Over the past couple weeks, I’ve talked to two college teams about the period leading up to a big meet. In particular, we’ve discussed some of the psychological shifts that swimmers undergo as they rest and recover in advance of a major competition.
If the athlete cares whatsoever about the meet, they’re probably going to be feeling some mixture of excitement and worry. I believe worry can often actually heighten during rest periods, since athletes often use hard practice as a coping mechanism for their worry about how they will perform. Nothing can make you feel better in the short term about making progress towards your goal than pounding the rock.
However, as that natural coping mechanism withdraws to allow for peak physical form, athletes can find themselves overwhelmed with worry at the most inopportune time. Coaches are faced with a hard decision about how much to intervene, one that conflicts with common sense about coaching at the big meet.
The Work’s in the Bag
It’s absolutely true that there is little technical coaching for a coach to do at a big meet. Technical change takes time, far more time than the short period between races at a big meet. So while it is useful in the long term for coaches to observe what is going on with the form of an athlete at a meet, in the short term it has little value.
However, the emotional landscape of a big meet is rife with opportunities, even if you haven’t fully prepared in the same way your swimming training plan has.
For one thing, coaches have to practice strong emotional regulation at big competitions. Like any person, they are entitled to be happy, sad, angry, content and everything in between. However, dramatic emotional displays by a coach can strain the energy of a team.
That’s because within power structures, those lower down often naturally assign themselves responsibility to those above them. Children assign themselves responsibility for the emotional state of their parents and athletes assign themselves the task of dealing with their coaches emotions.
Coaches have to be careful about their reactions so as to not wear out their own athletes with dramatic reactions. To do this, they need to have both internal and external facing strategies for dealing with their emotions.
If, as a coach, you don’t have a clear plan for dealing with the heightened emotions around a big competition, both your own and your athletes, here are a few suggestions:
Journaling- Having some way to maintain an internal record of what you observed over the course of a meet or your thoughts before a big competition is quite important. Many coaches are in favor of their athletes journaling as well but it has at least equal value for coaches.
Replace technical feedback with emotional feedback- Since technical feedback is mostly useless in the short term, and lack of feedback can make a tough emotional situation even worse (nobody likes the silent treatment), consider subbing in emotional feedback. Try to convey to the swimmers you coach honest statements about what you like about them, or the relationship you have with them.
Keep your posture open- I have witnessed coaches get quite frustrated when they learn at the 11th hour (or after) about crippling worry that inhibited performance. I have witnessed athletes deeply frustrated by their inability to manage such worry. it is incumbent on coaches to maintain a posture that allows athletes to share that worry without judgment.
Naturally, there are more ways to react in the moment and better preparation to do. I’m looking forward to being on deck myself this week as I attend the Magnus Cup this weekend with Cleveland State University. Check back for some observations after the meet.